The historical biographer of James Madison and the Adams political dynasty, Richard Brookhiser here lets Alexander Hamilton shed his skewed image as the "bastard brat of a Scotch peddler," sex scandal survivor, and notoriously doomed dueling partner of Aaron Burr. Throughout this close chronicle his meteoric and fascinating (if tragically brief) life, Hamilton is seen at last as one of the least understood, most important, and most inspiring of the founding fathers.

"A dramatic, compact biography that fairly gallops through Hamilton's picaresque life. Alexander Hamilton, American brilliantly succeeds in arguing that Hamilton deserves greater credit than he usually gets for his brainpower, idealism, and vision."—NYTBR